how to reduce the number of colums and rows in a table?

piedro · Newbie Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 3

hi everybody...

i can't find any option to reduce the size of a table from 65k of rows to only e.g. 4000....
it's probably a very simple procedure buit i still don't see any option for that.

i tried to simply "delete rows" from row 4001 to the end of the table... but this won't work!

plz, help!
thx,
piedro

denmarks · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:59 am Post subject:

What do you mean by size? There is no space taken unless a cell has a formula or value in it. You can define the print area.
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Dennis Marks

piedro · Newbie Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 3

it's just more handy to navigate ... and it's slow, for example, to change the format for the whole table, when it has so many cells in a column...

so you say, theres no waay to limit the columns and rows in a table?

greetz, piedro

denmarks · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:41 pm Post subject:

Maybe someone can tell me if I am wrong but when you change the format for a column it is only stored once for the column, not each cell. Same with the entire sheet. If you select all cells and change the font it is not stored in every cell. So I don't really understand your problem. Why are you scrolling to cells that you don't use? Limiting the size would only keep you from scrolling. It would not reduce table size physically.
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Dennis Marks

David

piedro · Newbie Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 3

you're right on the formating...!

but everybody has his style of working, right?
what i do when developing a new table is:
i write formulars in the first few rows of the sheet, then i copy the formulars (you're right, not the formats!) down to the end of the table... try yourself, you will find it takes quite a whiile (about two minutes on my machine) to add the formulas to the whole column down to 65k row... (and this is for a simple adding and multiplying formula!)

maybe there is a quick and easy way to say "copy this formula out of cell e8 to cell e9 and further down up to cell e3007 (cause i'm expecting exactly 3000 values!)?
since i'm setting up the tables there are no values in the cells to navigate on yet...
after copinng the first sets, i can use these copied formulas to navigate on - that is right for sure...

to David:
sure you are right too:
this is not a formidable problem,
i'm just asking for a way of doing my tasks in a way matching my style of working
which is: limit everything i produce to the necessary... (keep everything away from a user that could posssibly distract him or her. - a simple principle of usabillity...)
especially in this case in which the table will be a sheet to be used by 11 unexperienced users to feed in data... trust me, people get easily annoyed finding themselves by misclicking in cell 48776...

if you think i'm speculating and wasting your time, please realize that it's not me wasting your time - it's you posting a reply to a problem that is none in your eyes!!
why? to tell me i'm asking the wrong questions? i don't think i have to justify my points of interest... not your interest? - don't waste your time or expertise on me,
- just ignore my post!

to be more constructive:
yes, i can limit the printout size.
no, i'm not concerned about the file size in this case.
- i use tables as data input masks...
and i think it would be nice, handy and useful, to reduce or limit the number of rows and columns in a table to the number of really used ones rather than just hiding 60thousand rows of unused cells (same for columns!)

Does anyone know wether this is possible (and how) or not?
i still couldn't find an answer to this questioon...

regards, piedro

uros · Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:07 am Post subject:

Hi piedro!

Yes, you did post a wrong question, as you said. There is no need to limit the size of a spreadsheet, you just have to learn how to navigate in there...

Use Navigator!
Copy your formula first. Then press F5, input target cell (Column E, Row 3000), press Enter and there you are! Then hold Ctrl-Shift and press cursor up arrow, then Paste.

Uros

carl · Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 6:26 am Post subject:

Hi Uros
yet again I have learnt something new from you guys, but for me the whole column from e1 to e3000 only filled after I clicked on the "Drag Mode" in the navigator.
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carl
Using OpenOffice.org 2 on XP sp2

David · Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:08 am Post subject: Re: well...

BillP · Super User Joined: 07 Jan 2006 Posts: 2702

BookLady · Super User Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 727

piedro instead of delete rows try hide rows Format> Row> Hide for all rows below the table, that will stop any autofill at the bottom of the visible rows and only display the table in use.

Or go to -- OK use Navigator to go to -- the 3001 cell and put an x in it and use Control Shift ArrowDown to fill to the X.
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One of these days I'm gonna stop procrastinating.

Dale · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 4:01 am Post subject:

Also consider using named ranges.
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Dale
To err is human, but to destroy your slippers in the process takes a real son of a bitch: Me!

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